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| William R. McDowell
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| NO. 17497 • 26 July 1927 - 9 April 1987 |
| Interred in Bay Pines National Cemetery, Bay Pines, FL
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WILLIAM ROBERT MCDOWELL was born in Ft. Worth, TX. His mother, a teacher, raised Bill and his
sister Nadine in Ada, OK, where Bill was an excellent student, particularly in
math. In high school, he lettered in basketball and tennis. He also
demonstrated a faculty that his classmates well remember as a very effective
style of speaking. While only a sophomore at Ada High School, Bill got a job as
an announcer at radio station KADA, broadcasting not only sports, but general
news as well. He also was very active in the school debate program.
After graduating from high school, Bill enlisted in the Army Air Corps,
where he served for eleven months before joining the West Point Class of '50.
As a cadet, Bill played squash and tennis. He again capitalized on his rich
Oklahoma voice by broadcasting athletic events, coaching other cadets in public
speaking, and leading the debate teams for four years. In debate, he was the
"closer," the man who summed up and drove the arguments home. He had
hundreds of friends and was known for being able to talk himself into ‑
or out of ‑ anything. He also had a wry sense of humor. Reacting to a
roommate's admiration for the poet Robert Frost, he turned in a review of
Frost's Mending Wall entitled
"Frost Heaves." He was a cadet lieutenant, second in command of his
company.
Upon graduation, Bill was assigned to the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment, patroling
the border with East Germany. A carefree bachelor, Bill led an active social
life until he renewed his interest in tennis in 1951 and, on the court, met
Esther Juhaz, a Hungarian emigre whom he married in Milan in 1952. He and
Esther had two daughters.
The next significant step for Bill was flight school in 1956, followed by
a tour with the XVIII Airborne Corps Aviation Detachment at Ft. Bragg during
the heady days when the Army was beginning to experiment with air assault and
air‑mobile concepts. He went to Korea in 1959, as executive officer of
the Eighth Army Aviation Detachment.
Back in Europe in 1963, after finishing CGSC, Bill became aide‑de‑camp
to GEN Creighton Abrams, then commanding V Corps, and moved to Washington, DC,
in 1964 as Assistant Executive Officer to the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army.
His next assignment, in 1966, was as commanding officer of the 4th Aviation
Battalion, 4th Infantry Division. Bill joined the unit at Ft. Lewis and,
shortly thereafter, the Division moved to Viet Nam. In combat in Viet Nam, he
was awarded the Bronze Star, three Air Medals, and the Commendation Medal.
Bill was next assigned to the Pentagon. He and Esther had divorced by
this time, and in 1968 Bill met Carol "Callie" Allen at the Bolling
AFB Officers' Club. Although a Navy Department employee, Callie came from an
Army family and, as she puts it, "I took one look and knew I had met the
man I would always love." For the next year, Bill and Callie carried on a
long‑distance romance during his assignment as a student at the Naval War
College.
Upon graduation, Bill was again assigned to Viet Nam, this time as
commanding officer of the 17th Aviation Group at Nha Trang. Again, he excelled
in his command. Viet Nam was a war in which senior commanders often were
personally involved, and Bill was no exception. He was awarded a Distinguished
Flying Cross for rescuing two wounded U.S. advisors under enemy fire. He also
was honored with two Legions of Merit and six Air Medals. Perhaps most
importantly, while on R&R in Hawaii in March 1970, Bill McDowell married
Callie Allen.
Next came three glorious years in Hawaii, with Bill in PACOM
Headquarters. With five teenagers (Bill's two and Callie's three) in the house
for visits and vacations, the McDowell household was a booming place! The
Pentagon was next for Bill, and he continued his specialty of joint plans with
three years in JCS J‑5 and one in OSD International Security Affairs.
Bill's last Active Duty assignment was at USREDCOM at Tampa, where he was Chief
of the Plans Division. He retired as a colonel in 1980.
In 1980, Bill and Callie took a long‑anticipated three-month trip
to Europe, made all the more pleasant by Esther's family showing them many
things they would never have seen on their own. But the U.S. was the only place
for the McDowells, and they settled in Tampa. Bill played a lot of golf and
worked on his classic cars, especially a 1952 right‑hand drive MG. He
also became involved with an effort to build a military retirement community in
the area. Unfortunately, just as this project was almost ready for action in
1985, Bill developed a lingering sore throat that all too soon was diagnosed as
cancer. Bill was always convinced that he would lick his illness, but he died
in April 1987 at McDill AFB.
Bill's classmates remember him with admiration and affection, as evident
in the following excerpts. "The very model of a gentleman and someone you
admire;" "a controlled, assured, confident man, ambitious but not
overly so, smart;" "always the most gracious of hosts, the welcome
mat was always out;" "knew that if I needed help, he would be
there;" "quiet, reserved and of even disposition and considerable
intellect."
But Callie McDowell sums Bill up best, saying, "Besides being a kind
and loving husband, Bill was a wonderful father to his two girls and my three
children. A day never passes that we don’t think of him and miss him. As the
years pass, I thought it would get easier, but it never seems to."
We agree.
- Roommate Philo Hutcheson, family and classmates
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USMA 1950